Jay Heike cleans a gravestone at Snohomish’s G.A.R. Cemetery earlier this month.
Photo submitted by Kandi Henson
SNOHOMISH — Jay Heike has been volunteering his time cleaning headstones in two of Snohomish’s cemeteries.
“I felt it was important after someone’s gone” that they continue to be respectfully honored, Heike said.
The 26-year-old said he spends a few hours each weekend cleaning grave markers. He restarted cleaning headstones last year after he went to clean his great-grandmother’s headstone in Zion Lutheran’s cemetery. He saw the nearby headstones could use scrubbing.
Caring for a graveyard was instilled in him and his two older brothers. His dad, Craig Heike, is the sexton at Snohomish Zion Lutheran’s cemetery. As kids, the brothers grew up mowing the grass and tidying the headstones.
He happens to work in this industry. His job is in computer graphic design creating custom grave markers for a local memorials and monuments company. The graphic designs are engraved using sandblasting.
He said he recently began cleaning at G.A.R. Cemetery because he ran out of headstones at Zion.
He cleans headstones no more than once a year. Too much cleaning could harm the underlying granite, he said.
For stones, he uses granite stone cleaner — the neutral kind used for cleaning granite countertops — plus a brush and “some elbow grease,” he said.
For bronze plaques, water and brushing works.
He advises to never use bleach products. Experts also advise to never use acidic-based cleaners such as vinegar on headstones.
If anyone gets inspired to clean gravesites, Heike said to be mindful to leave personal gravesite items alone. Tokens and items by a grave were placed for a reason, he said.
